The present disclosure relates generally to the field of computer security, and more particularly to encryption authorization of a secured device using an authorization dongle.
Encryption is used in computer systems to prevent unauthorized parties from accessing data. Plaintext data on memory may be encrypted to generate ciphertext which can only be read if decrypted. Data may be encrypted by using an encryption algorithm. The data may only be decrypted by applying an encryption key, which reverses the order of the encryption algorithm to convert the ciphertext back into plaintext. Some encryption systems incorporate proprietary dongles; these may be separate storage devices which may store the encryption key. The proprietary dongle may be communicatively coupled to the encrypted device to allow the user to access the encrypted data volume using the corresponding encryption key.